2870 - Brigitte Matschinsky-Denninghoff and Martin Matschinsky (1923 Berlin – 2011, ibid.; 1921 Grötzingen, Baden – 2020 Berlin)

Brigitte Matschinsky-Denninghoff and Martin Matschinsky (1923 Berlin – 2011, ibid.; 1921 Grötzingen, Baden – 2020 Berlin) "Eroica." Original title Brass and tin on an anthracite-colored stone base (presumably Belgian granite), 1986. Monogrammed, dated, and titled “M-D 86 EROICA 86” beneath the base. A preliminary version or model for the approximately 450-cm-tall freestanding sculpture “Heros” from 1986/87 in Regensburg. Composed on a square plinth, an organically winding, closed tubular form with longitudinal grooves, flanked by a stark, gallows-like structure made of square rods as a contrast. A sculpture typical of the style of the sculptor duo Matschinsky-Denninghoff, who had been collaborating since the 1950s; within the duo, Brigitte Meier-Denninghoff (Matschinsky-Denninghoff from 1970 onward) was the driving artistic force. She had studied under Toni Stadler at the Munich Academy since 1946, met Hans Hartung in Paris in 1948, served as an assistant to Henry Moore in England, and studied under Antoine Pevsner in Paris for nine months. In 1949, she co-founded the group “ZEN 49” in Munich and subsequently participated in major exhibitions, including documenta II in Kassel in 1959, the 1962 Venice Biennale, the 1966 Kestner Society exhibition in Hanover, the 1967 EXPO in Montreal, and the Museum Folkwang in Essen. Starting in 1969–70, the sculptor duo began calling themselves simply Matschinsky-Denninghoff and moved to Berlin in 1970. The first exhibition under their shared name was held in 1970 at the National Gallery in Berlin. There, visitors could see those characteristic, organically shaped tubular works, which the duo had now realized on a large scale in the form of curved, shimmering chrome-nickel steel tubes. In 1985, the Berlin Academy of Arts and other museums presented the first retrospective of the sculptor duo. With their iconic, monumental stainless steel sculptures, the duo left a lasting mark on public spaces in many ways. Among their best-known works is the four-part, eight-meter-tall sculpture “Berlin,” which was installed in 1987 to mark the city’s 750th anniversary at the prominent location on the median strip of Berlin’s Tauentzienstraße—a symbol of the divided city and, after 1990, of reunification. Their sculpture “Dreiheit” (1993) on the museum forecourt of the Berlinische Galerie became a hallmark of the Landesmuseum. 40 cm x 27 cm x 30 cm (with a base measuring 27 cm x 27 cm). Literature/Exhibitions: Galerie Marianne Hennemann, Bonn 1986, “Mythos Beethoven”; Kunstamt Berlin-Tempelhof 1989, “Steel Sculpture in the Park: Volkmar Haase, Matschinsky-Denninghoff, Karl Menzen, Herbert Press, Georg Seibert, Rudolf Valenta”; Georg W. Költzsch (ed.): “Matschinsky-Denninghoff. Monograph and Catalog Raisonné of Sculptures,” Cologne 1992, cat. no. 527, ill. p. 443. We would like to thank Ms. Johanna Haug of the Berlinische Galerie in Berlin for the helpful information. Brass and tin sculpture on an anthracite-colored stone base (probably Petit Granit), 1986. Monogrammed, dated, and titled “M-D 86 EROICA 86” on the bottom of the base.